ST. GEORGE –National signing day for college football is finally here. Today is the day where high school students make their dreams come true. National signing day starts at 9:00 a.m., Eastern-Standard Time, with the fax machine becoming one of the most important machines of the day.
Student athletes will sign a Letter of Intent, or LOI, to play college football at the college that has offered them a scholarship. The LOI is a contract between the student and the school. Once the LOI is signed the player and coach fax it to the school they are signing with. The parents must sign the LOI as well. The contract cannot be broken by the student without having to sit out a season if he decides to transfer.
For the colleges in southern Utah it is a big day to keep local student athletes close to home, to help improve their teams and fill up the stands.
Hurricane High School had four student athletes sign today. All of them are staying close to home which made their parents and coaches happy.
“I will definitely be at a lot of Dixie St. and SUU games over the next four to six years,” Hurricane Coach Chris Homer said
Hurricane’s Taylor Parker, Brian Scott, Weston Yardley, and Kevin Mortenson all signed this morning at 8:15 a.m.
MVP running back Brian Scott and safety Taylor Parker both signed to play with Southern Utah University. Both will be going on LDSmissions before school starts and will not actually start playing football for SUU until the 2014-2015 season.
Weston Yardley and Kevin Mortenson signed with Dixie Sate. College.
Snow Canyon High School also had two players sign with Dixie State College. Ben Gottfredson and Cooper Robinson. Robinson signedand faxed his LOI from home this morning while Gottfredson had his friends, family and coaches around when he signed today at lunch.
“It will be nice to have him so close to home and get to watch him live out his dream of playing college athletics,”Ryan Yardley, Weston’s father, said.
Arslanian, who is also a two-time state champion in track, will compete on the track team for the 2012-2013 academic year, will go on a two year LDS church mission and come back in the fall of 2015 to sign his football scholarship and play for BYU.The Pine View Panthers had three sign this afternoon, headlined by wide receiver Jake Arslanian, who chose BYU over Stanford, Nebraska, UCLA, Arizona State, University of Utah , Boise State. Weber State, and most of the Ivy League schools.
Other Panthers that signed were Kolton Donovan for Southern Utah University, and Austin Mikkelson for Weber State University.
Pine View’s Kali Stubbs committed to Utah Valley University to play soccer
The Desert Hills Thunder had a great day as well with Mike Needham and Porter Harris signing with Southern Utah University and Bud Pope signing with Dixie State College.
“They made me feel like I was the most important recuit, other schools offered me but the coaches at SUU told me I was their No. one back and that was huge,” Needham said on his recruitment.
Thunder Linebacker Peter Brown did not sign today as he is waiting to see if University of Utah will have a scholarship left after this week. If the school does, Brown said, “I will sign with Utah. If not, I will sign with Dixie State next week.”
Cedar High School also had a major Division One signing with John Urusa signing with the University of Hawaii.
Dixie High School, along with Pine View and Desert Hills, all had student athletes sign with Mesa Community College which is coached by former Dixie State College coach Greg Croshaw.
In all, Dixie State College adds five Region 9 athletes, as does Southern Utah University.
Copyright 2012 St. George News. This material may not be published or rewritten without written consent.
Thanks for doing a great job covering Southern Utah athletics. The kids work hard and deserve a little recognition for all of the time and energy they give to the sports that they love! Way to go Pat.